Monday, June 23, 2014

On our way to Vaxholm

We had a very nice night in Utö, in the Hostel, though apparently I have regained my ability to snore. Becky admitted she woke up once during the night to hear my snoring, but was able to get back to sleep. The morning was bright, sunny, with a fairly good wind.

We walked down to the local bakery, which was now open, and had breakfast. Becky had one of a series of cardamom rolls (she is doing a comparative study to find the best one) and I had a smorgås and a raspberry smoothie.

We then checked out of our room and caught the boat to the nearest port (about a 45 minute ride) then got the bus to the train station, then on to the subway, then another bus put to Vaxholm, where we were to stay in another hostel. When we arrived in Vaxholm, we were hungry, and it started to rain, so wwe had a nice lunch at the old Waxholm hotel. We knew we needed to take another bus to the hostel, which we discovered only ran occasionally . The next bus was not for a couple of hours, it was continuing to rain, and things looked a little grim. We tried to get a taxi, but that was going to take at least 30 minutes, so we began a walking tour of Vaxholm, including a stop at the tourist information

Center. We called the hostel to see if they had any suggestions about transportation (no) and they reminded us that there was no food available near the hostel, and that we should bring what we wanted to eat. So, we made a stop at Co-op, got sandwich materials, and waited for the bus. When the bus came, we were the only passengers. The driver stopped at the road/path to the hostel, and gave us instructions on how to get there. It is adjacent to a huge restored castle in a really pastoral setting, surrounded by a farm with horses and sheep. We had to walk about a quarter mile along a very wet gravel road to get there, but what a nice setting. There were 30 or 40 young children, with parents, in the reception area, but we were assured they were staying in another building, so by 8:00, they were gone, and the rooms were quiet. Tomorrow we will travel by boat further north to Finnhamn, where we will stay for two Nights.